1. Field of the Invention
Embodiments of the present invention relate generally to a method and apparatus for optimizing bulk data transactions for mass storage devices used with USB-over-IP systems.
2. Description of the Related Art
In the 2005 USENIX paper entitled “USB/IP—a Peripheral Bus Extension for Device Sharing over IP Network”, Hirofuchi proposes USB/IP as a peripheral bus extension over an Internet Protocol (IP) network. This device sharing approach is based on the peripheral interfaces that are supported in most modern operating systems. Using a virtual peripheral bus driver, users can share a range of devices over networks without any modification in existing operating systems and applications. The problem with USB/IP as an underlying communications layer for single issue data transfer protocols such as Small Computer Systems Interface (SCSI) is that data throughput is severely impeded by round trip network delays which may be particularly problematic in high latency wide area network applications.
Therefore, there is a need in the art for efficient data transfer, in particular over high latency networks, using USB/IP.